CHIACGO, Ill., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Dutch and U.S. researchers say an often-used tool to diagnose common and sometimes limb-threatening bone infections may not be as reliable as believed.
A two-year longitudinal study by Texas A&M University, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle evaluated a large sample of diabetic people with wounds and tested the commonly performed "probe to bone" test.
The test, which uses a sterile instrument to feel for bone inside a wound, has been thought by many to be highly predictive of bone infection.
"The test, if used by itself in a normal clinical setting, isn't much better than flipping a coin," said study co-investigator David G. Armstrong of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. "We therefore recommend it be used with other aids, such as biopsy or appropriate imaging tools."
The findings are published in Diabetes Care.
